American Basketball League (1961-1962)
Tombstone
Born: April 21, 1960 – ABL founding franchise
Moved: 1962 (Oakland Oaks)
First Game: October 27, 1961 (W 99-96 vs. Los Angeles Jets)
Last Game: March 30, 1962 (L 117-112 @ Cleveland Pipers)
ABL Championships: None
Arenas
Cow Palace
Opened: 1941
San Francisco Civic Auditorium
Opened: 1915
Marketing
Team Colors:
Ownership
Owner: George McKeon
Our favorite Stuff
San Francisco Saints
Logo T-Shirt
The Saints were part of the American Basketball League, a short-lived challenger to the NBA, during the winter of 1960-61. There’s an awful lot going on in this busy, Sunday-comics inspired logo, which was used only used for publications and print advertising. Saints uniforms just used a simple wordmark instead.
This Saints design is also available as a Crewneck or Hooded Sweatshirt from the guys at Old School Shirts!
When you make a purchase through an affiliate link like this one, Fun While It Lasted earns a commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!
Background
The San Francisco Saints were a One-Year Wonder in Abe Saperstein’s upstart American Basketball League that briefly attempted to challenge the NBA in the early 1960’s.
The Saints finished 38-38 in their only season of play and lost to the eventual champion Cleveland Pipers (owned by George Steinbrenner!) in the playoff quarterfinal. 6′ 8″ center Jim Francis out of Dartmouth was the team’s leading scorer, averaging 19.1 PPG.
In July 1962, owner George McKeon announced that the Saints would not return to the league. The franchise relocated across the Bay to Oakland as the Oakland Oaks for the 1962-63 season. The ABL’s sophomore campaign was cut short due to financial difficulties and the league folded on December 31, 1962.
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